Issues Archive - Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance

Travel Plans and Off-Road Vehicles

The travel planning process gives the BLM a chance to get things right by providing access to trailheads, scenic overlooks, and recreation opportunities while protecting the reason people want to drive to such remote areas in the first place: to enjoy the unspoiled beauty of Utah’s unparalleled public lands and...

America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act

This visionary legislation would designate more than 8 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land in Utah as wilderness. Protecting this spectacular and world-renowned landscape would keep climate-disrupting fossil fuels in the ground and provide a vital corridor for the movement and adaptation of western wildlife species.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

The 1.9 million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante has claimed its place as a crown jewel of our nation's public lands. It was the first monument managed by the BLM to specifically prioritize conservation of cultural, ecological, and scientific values, and it is now world-renowned for its remarkable paleontological discoveries, stunning scenery, and...

Bears Ears National Monument

When President Obama used his authority under the Antiquities Act to designate Bears Ears National Monument on December 28th, 2016, he granted a new layer of protection to some of the most spectacular places in southern Utah. Equally important, the proclamation elevated the voices of the Native American tribes who...

The Role of America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act in Protecting Biodiversity and Mitigating the Climate Crisis

The wild and expansive landscape proposed for protection under America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act comprises a prime piece of what scientists say is needed today—protecting 30% of America’s lands and waters by the year 2030 in order to prevent catastrophic collapse of our natural systems. Protecting these wild landscapes would...

Recreation Management on the Colorado Plateau

Human-powered recreation—hiking, biking, camping, climbing, river running, horseback riding—has dramatically increased over the past decade, leading to habitat fragmentation, impaired water quality, loss of wilderness values, and the destruction of irreplaceable cultural sites, among other things. Reimagining recreation by using more proactive and science-based management strategies can help.

Chaining and Vegetation Removal

Every year, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) spends tens of millions of taxpayer dollars destroying hundreds of thousands of acres of native pinyon pine and juniper forests and sagebrush stands throughout the West. These projects are carried out in the name of fire prevention and habitat restoration, but the...

Hoax Highways (RS 2477)

Revised Statute (RS) 2477, enacted as part of the 1866 Mining Law, simply provides that “[t]he right of way for the construction of highways across public lands, not reserved for public uses, is hereby granted.” But since the 1990s, the State of Utah and its counties have seized on this...

Dirty Fuels

Beyond its significant role in climate change, oil and gas development on public lands threatens our wildlife, clean air, and clean water. It also endangers our rich American cultural heritage, dark night skies, and outstanding opportunities for solitude and recreation.

Utah Silvestre

Public lands of the Colorado Plateau have a unique significance to Latino, Chicano, and Hispanic cultures. Just as wild Utah is the ancestral homeland of many Indigenous peoples, these lands also are part of the past, present, and futures of Latinx communities today.